Year In Review: Crimes That Made Headlines

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It was a busy year in north country crime, with cases ranging from a number of homicides to some high-profile people running into problems with the law.

In September of 2012, Breanna Simpson stabbed her boyfriend Henry Perkins Jr. Perkins survived and Simpson got community service. This past June, Simpson allegedly did it again in an apartment on Public Square in Watertown. This time, Perkins didn't survive.

"If they would have had her in jail the last time, Henry would still be alive," his sister, Sherry Johnson, said.

Simpson is facing a second degree murder charge.

In Lewis County, an argument between father and son at a town of Watson home turned deadly in May. Earlier this month, Lyle Davoy pleaded guilty to shooting his son and received 17-and-a-half years to life in prison.

An Ogdensburg man is spending 22 years in prison after a 2010 murder. In May, Anthony LaLonde was convicted in the killing of Ralph Lawton. Two co-defendants were acquitted.

In September, a grand jury indicted Gary McKenzie, a Fort Drum soldier, in the killing of his girlfriend's daughter, 6 month old Braylin Chambers.

"It became apparent that there were multiple skull fractures," said St. Lawrence County District Attorney Nicole Duve, "and so that gave us the information we needed to make the charges."

McKenzie has pleaded not guilty.

A Watertown native and popular Syracuse attorney will spend three years in prison after a raid found child pornography on his computer. Martin Rothschild proclaimed regret at his sentencing.

"I feel remorse for the victims," he said.

A drunken driving charge cost Jefferson County's senior assistant district attorney his job. Aaron Carr was pulled over in March, with a blood alcohol content four times the legal limit.

Lewis County's former trails coordinator, Bob Diehl, got community service after billing the county for gravel he used in his driveway. It's a conviction that Diehl is appealing.

A sex trafficking ring was busted in the Jefferson County jail in October. If convicted, Syracuse native Eric Oliver faces 10 to 25 years behind bars.

Two SUNY Canton students were expelled last month in connection with hazing incidents at the ZAP fraternity, in which a student was branded with a coat hanger, according to a source.

No criminal charges have been filed.

Another Canton student faces arson charges after she allegedly set an off-campus apartment on fire in Potsdam. Brandi Saumier has pleaded not guilty.

Finally, an incident that crossed borders: two Norwood residents, Peter Tarbox and his mother, Annette Williams, were accused of kidnapping Tarbox's daughter from her Pennsylvania home in August. When a witness failed to show up in court, charges were dropped.